She Rises

April 15, 2013
Worsley’s first novel is a choppy affair. Set in 1740, it features dual first-person narratives from the points of view of Luke and Louise Fletcher. At 15, Luke is press-ganged (i.e. forcibly drafted) into the Britain’s Royal Navy and vows to do anything to find his way back to his love. His sister Louise, who is raised from a young age to believe that the sea lures men from their families, moves to a small village on the coast to become a lady’s maid to Rebecca Handley, a lovely and headstrong young woman. Of the two stories, Luke’s adventure is the more interesting and perilous. His narrative vividly captures the danger, sights, and sounds—not to mention the smells—of 18th-century shipboard life. Rebecca’s near-death bout of smallpox and the women’s subsequent intimate relationship is fraught with danger of a different sort—that of ruinous public exposure. While the chapter-by-chapter alternation of protagonists makes for a rocky reading experience, it eventually pays off with a satisfyingly unexpected, if not wholly plausible, late development. Worsley deserves kudos for her bold approach to the familiar naval adventure genre. Agent: Veronique Baxter, David Higham Associates (U.K.).